Japanese Restaurant Menu Translation App

UI/UX Design for iOS app

About

Every year 30 million tourists visit Japan. Most of these tourists do not speak Japanese and it is hard for the restaurant customers and waiters to communicate. App, 'YourMenu', helps restaurants talk to customers without speaking the language. YourMenu translates restaurant menus and offers automated ordering, without needing to speak to a waiter.

Project Goals

Main Goals

Help tourists of Japan find restaurants easier and have better experience when ordering food.

Usability

Design the app to be effective so the user can achieve the goal without problems, efficient - to do it fast, and satisfy their needs.

Help restaurants in Japan be found and provide a better service to its customers.

Flexibility

As the app is used by many different people from various countries, one of the goals is to make it intuitive so anyone can understand and use it.

Research

Almost all food related apps provide ordering and delivery options but none of them helps with direct communication to waiters so this is a great niche to focus on. Most tourists of Japan outside Asian countries are from United States and Australia so the main language of the app is English.

To better understand the problem and what are the needs, usability tests were conducted and surveys sent to people who travel to another countries, and to some restaurants in Japan.

Personas

Using qualitative and quantitative data obtained from surveys I was able to create personas that helped me better understand the users and start working on UX.

Diners

Restaurants

Ethan Brown

MALE, 28, AUSTRALIA

While on business trips Ethan finds it hard to communicate with waiters and waitresses because he does not have time to learn the language. Ethan is often confused by the menu where it is hard to find the food fast.

GOALS

Easy way to find a place to eat

Ease of the food ordering

Juliana Moore

FEMALE, 33, UNITED STATES

Juliana travels with her family two times a year. Trying new foods is her passion while in another country. Her biggest frustration is communication with staff when ordering food.

GOALS

Offer different restaurants to choose of

Help with waiter-customer communication

Kanda Yurnin

3 CHAIN RESTAURANT IN TOKYO, IN BUSINESS SINCE 2002

All three restaurants are placed perfectly to serve the tourists of Tokyo. Kanda Yurnin values quality of their food and service the highest. They always look for ways to market themselves and make their clients enjoy the visit at any of their restaurants.

GOALS

Market the restaurant

Improve the service

Ise Sueyoshi

A RESTAURANT IN THE HEART OF KYOTO, OPENED LAST YEAR

Ise Sueyoshi serves Japanese traditional food to people in Kyoto. Most of their customers are tourists that want to try Japanese traditional food. Often customers have to show the food on menu and count with fingers to the waiters for them to understand.

GOALS

Help customers find the restaurant

Solve communication problem

Information Architecture

Wireframes

UI Design